Shesterkin stops 35, Panarin scores twice to lift Rangers past Islanders 

NEW YORK -- Igor Shesterkin made 35 saves, and Artemi Panarin scored two goals for the New York Rangers in a 5-2 win against the New York Islanders at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

Vincent Trocheck scored his 200th NHL goal, Chris Kreider scored short-handed, Mika Zibanejad had three assists, and Adam Edstrom got his first of the season for the Rangers (8-2-1), who have won two games in a row and three of four.

"I thought it was good," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "Giving up the goal late in the [second] period, that was tough. That brings the game closer. But then I really liked us going back out for the third period. So, overall, I was pretty happy with all three periods. I thought 5-on-5, power play and penalty kill was all pretty good."

Ilya Sorokin made 35 saves, and Casey Cizikas and Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders (4-6-2), who have lost four of five all in regulation.

The Islanders went 0-for-5 on the power play and gave up the short-handed goal to Kreider at 3:44 of the first period.

"We have five power plays, we'd like to cash in on one," Islanders forward Anders Lee said. "There's nothing more to say about that. "

The Rangers came into Sunday with new forward lines and defense pairs, including Jimmy Vesey making his season debut after missing the first 10 games on long-term injured reserve for a lower-body injury.

The new look up front and on the back end was a reaction to how Laviolette felt they were playing in their recent games; under attack too often, unable to get the puck out of the zone or sustain pressure in the offensive zone.

The Rangers won 2-1 against the Ottawa Senators on Friday even though they were outshot 41-18, including 20-5 in the third period. They lost 5-3 to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, getting outshot 46-19.

Zibanejad, who played on a line with Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere after playing with Kreider and Reilly Smith for the first 10 games, said the changes, especially coming off a win, got the team's attention.

"But at the same time, I can look at in a way where we have a record of 7-2-1 and we think we can play better," Zibanejad said. "I would say that's a good problem to have. And we do it. We come out here and I think we played one of our most solid games all season. That shows what kind of team we have and what kind of group we have in here."

Kreider gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead off a rush with Zibanejad that started with Noah Dobson's giveaway in the neutral zone. They passed the puck back and forth before Zibanejad found Kreider below the right circle for a one-timer that got behind Sorokin.

"He made a great play to me, and he just got open and he was ready for a pass back and I thought the lane was pretty open," Zibanejad said. "It was a good start for us."

Shesterkin stopped Dobson on a breakaway with a right pad save at 11:24 to keep it 1-0.

Trocheck made it 2-0 at 1:21 of the second period. He scored from in front of the net off a pass from Smith, who stripped the puck from Samuel Bolduc at the bottom of the right face-off circle in the Islanders' defensive zone.

Shesterkin stopped Bo Horvat on a breakaway at 3:46, but Cizikas scored at 4:38 to make it 2-1. Shesterkin couldn't hold onto Pierre Engvall's shot, leaving the puck in front of the crease for Cizikas to jam in.

The Rangers regained the two-goal lead when Panarin made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 11:04. His shot from the blue line went through traffic and over Sorokin’s left pad.

The Islanders responded to cut it to 3-2 at 19:52 on Nelson's goal from the right post off a cross-crease pass from Kyle Palmieri, who got the puck in the left circle and deked around a diving Jacob Trouba.

Shesterkin, though, made a right pad save on Horvat on a 2-on-1 at 3:50 of the third to preserve the lead.

"I mean, if we score there, make it a 3-3 game, it gives us momentum and we could go," Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. "That was a big save by their goalie."

Edstrom made it 4-2 at 5:18, scoring on a deflection from the side of the net that looped high over Sorokin before bouncing over the goal line.

Panarin scored an empty-net goal at 16:37 for the 5-2 final.

"I thought it was way better," Laviolette said. "Goaltenders are going to have to make big saves, both teams. That happens every single night. But the quality of the chances, I thought it was less. Did [Shesterkin] have to make some saves? Yeah. Was he good? Yes. But not like three of the last four games where I felt it was just one sided. I felt like we were punching and punching. Yeah, we're going to get punched once in a while too, but overall I thought it was a much better performance."

Notes: The Islanders played without forward Mathew Barzal (upper body, out 4-6 weeks), and defensemen Adam Pelech (upper body, out 4¬-6 weeks), Mike Reilly (upper body, day to day) and Alexander Romanov (upper body, day to day). Forward Anthony Duclair missed his seventh straight game with a lower-body injury. … Defensemen Grant Hutton and Bolduc made their season debuts after being recalled from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League on Saturday. … Trocheck has 200 goals in 730 games. … Panarin's two goals give him 799 NHL points (274 goals, 525 assists) in 683 games.